Rather than turn bitter about the state of the world, stay agile and be adaptive to change to remain in the game. The alternative is retirement
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has effectively declared the general elections open with a midnight meeting of the BJP’s central election committee, working through the night on the first list of candidates.
And Rahul Gandhi?
He is at Cambridge University, slated to deliver two lectures at his old college.
This is when his party’s troubleshooters — DK Shivakumar, Bhupinder Hooda, Rajiv Shukla — are deployed to contain the fallout of open rebellion in Himachal Pradesh.
I am all for public figures engaging with the world of ideas. I also agree — and Modi’s “Vishwa Guru” pitch for India is rooted in this idea —that politics is simultaneously local and global.
But, the timing?
To be away a fortnight before the election date and during the Rajya Sabha polls, and a time when alliances are still being pitched and there is a multitude of messages to debate and agree on, is befuddling. Congress supporters say Rahul Gandhi has become the soft target for journalists. And those who don’t dare to ask questions of the government criticise the Congress.
Sure, there’s plenty to complain about in the news media — sycophancy, polarisation, communal content, political activism and bias – especially, a malaise in broadcast media. Yet, many more reporters do their work daily, and sincerely, to the best of their ability in holding power to account.
Targeting the media, as Rahul Gandhi has begun to consistently do in his speeches, won’t change the Congress party’s political fortunes much. And if you must make the media an adversary, why not take on promoters and editors instead of publicly humiliating junior employees, as Gandhi did at a recent meeting in Uttar Pradesh.
But while we are on the subject of the media, there’s an interesting parallel between the changes that have hit Indian media and the churn in Indian politics today.
As a first-generation television journalist who is now a digital entrepreneur, I am among the many reporters of my vintage, who are trying to adapt to mass disruptions in technology, distribution and consumption patterns.
Why am I talking about this in a political column?
Let me explain.
The Opposition, mostly the Congress, spends a lot of time lamenting and raging. There is much hand-wringing over big money heading to the BJP, the bias of big media and the new behaviour patterns of the voter.
You could apply this almost identically to the state of play in news media. Influencers with softball questions and wide-eyed smiles are the flavour of the season. Bias is a more effective clickbait than nuance. The internet loves a slant: Right or left is immaterial. Technology has changed how content is created and watched. Satire and comedy are preferred genres to field reporting. And giant corporations alongside Big Tech platforms have upended the old rules of the game.
This leaves folks like me with two options: To complain every day about the unfairness of the world, its intrinsic shallowness, and the lack of a level playing field or show up every day, embrace and stay ahead of it and find a way to remain agile and adaptive without giving up my authentic core.
It hasn’t been easy. News media is facing an existential challenge globally. But I opt for the second. I have taught myself the new grammar of digital storytelling, sought younger audiences on Instagram, upskilled on software and cameras and held on to my belief that there are still enough takers for non-partisan content, provided you are steely enough to hold your nerve.
Many other colleagues are working just as hard to do the same. The trick is simple. Show up every day. Work hard. Change, but not so much that you forget who you are. Learn. And most importantly, be willing to unlearn. If you don’t like the rules of the game you can’t change them without being in the game. That, if you choose that route, is retirement.
The problem with the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress — with apologies to Mallikarjun Kharge — is precisely this. Enormous bitterness at the state of play combined with a one-foot-in-one-foot-out approach have made the party and its supporters believe that the problem is external, not internal.
“The Congress is not an NGO,” Sachin Pilot told me in a recent interview. Pilot, almost the last man standing in a generation of colleagues who have fled for better options, is so right. But many of his colleagues have to internalise that obvious fact. Polemics and self-pity won’t cut it.
Politics is ruthless, demanding and unforgiving.
It’s also a 24x7 job with no respite.
That’s exactly why it’s not a profession for everyone.
Modi left for Jharkhand and Bengal after wrapping up a near all-nighter.
Rahul Gandhi needs to at least return to the trenches.
Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author. The views expressed are personal
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